The Environmental Leadership Circle is a community that brings together OLCV’s strongest supporters with their peers and elected officials to help ensure that Oregon is a leader in sustainability and environmental protection.

Oregon is blessed with diverse natural beauty, and has often been on the forefront of key environmental debates that have had consequences far outside our state’s border. More recently, federal lawmakers have fallen down on their responsibility to protect our environment, or simply passed on the responsibility to state and local leaders. As a result we must rely more heavily on state and local laws to protect our families and the special places we love.

In recent elections, OLCV has helped many pro-environment candidates win victories across the state, including Governor John Kitzhaber. We helped to pass important environmental laws in the state legislature, including the nation’s most aggressive Renewable Energy Standard and first low-carbon fuel standard.

But the environment also suffered many losses in the 2010 elections. These, combined with the state’s very serious budget shortfall, meant that the conservation community largely played defense in the 2011 Oregon legislative session. In 2012, we must change the political landscape to ensure that Oregon remains at the forefront of environmental protection and green job creation.